Oktoberfest coming to Alberni

Bust out your Lederhosen and break out your beer stein. The Oktoberfest is coming.

The venerable festival is being held at the Italian Cultural Centre on Sixth Avenue on Oct. 19-20 where food, song and fellowship can be had, Europa Club Oktoberfest committee chair Joop Scheffers said. “The food is the best, the band is good and the dancing will be fun,” Scheffers said.

According to a pamphlet supplied by Scheffers, the festival was started in 1810 by a soldier who wanted to commemorate the marriage of Bavaria’s Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. Since then it has become a festival of German beer.

The largest Oktoberfest in Canada is held in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., where upwards of 350,000 people attend each year, the pamphlet notes.

In Port Alberni, festivities start on Friday at 8 p.m and go until 1 a.m. On Saturday, the party starts at 7 p.m. and finishes at 12 a.m.

Performances include Klaus from Hamburg, SilverStars, and a floor show by the Edelweiss Dancers.

Tickets cost $15 and are available at Barlow’s on Third Avenue or Somass Drugs on Southgate Rd.